gratitude

next week is thanksgiving.  a day that in america is filled with a lot of turkey and college football and family and pumpkin pie.  it's also a day of thanks.  a day set aside to be thankful for the good harvest in our lives. 

this is good timing because while i might not be able to be with my extended family or watch any football- i am living in a season of gratitude.  i can usually find something to be thankful for- even when things are bad- but it happens that these days- i am extra grateful. 

here are the top five reasons why:

1.  zoe these days (fingers and toes crossed and dare i utter it out loud), is doing really well.  we moved this girl who doesn't like change, across the great ocean to a place with out her ama, with out her social group, with out her math tutor, with out her therapists, and she's doing great.  she has found and embraced her community here and i'm most thankful that they have embraced her.  she is learning so much socially- and organically socially.  she is learning to know herself, to know when she needs more time alone, when she needs to go and find a friend, and which friend would be good.  she is learning to send herself to the trampoline, or to play with the neighbors dog, or even to be away from home near another adult who is not me.  she has independence here that she would never have in atlanta.  for all this, i'm so, so thankful!  it's also another example of God's provision- above and beyond.  i was hoping she wouldn't fall to bits - He allows her to bloom. 

2. my boys have replanted here like bamboo.  they have grown roots and sprouts with very little work - just some water.  i've been able to see how adaptable we all are- but perhaps especially kids.  in a few months- this has become 'home home' (in uganda when you want to emphasize something you say it twice).

3.  our house sold, our cars sold, my medical school loans are being paid by MedSend- a missions agency that helps medical missionaries get overseas by paying back their medical school debt.  these were the last pieces of our getting here- and we left with the corners untucked.  we left with things in the works but not settled- trusting they would settle- and they have.  provision.

4.  we appear (fingers and toes crossed again- and dare i utter it...) to have been added to the university generator.  in other words, we seem to have power most evenings.  this is incredible.  this feels like we have stepped back into a time machine and returned to 2011.  i'm not sure how long it will last, but for now, i'm grateful (although i did buy some candles today- just in case).

5. a multitude of daily little blessings- from finding a yoga class to meaningful work to christmas lights to good friends here to this cyber world that keeps home close- i leave with a poem by Rumi about gratitude

What was Told, That
What was said to the rose that made it open was said to me here in my chest. What was told the cypress that made it strong and straight, what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made sugarcane sweet, whatever was said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil in Turkestan that makes them so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush like a human face, that is being said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence in language, that's happening here. The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude, chewing a piece of sugarcane, in love with the one to whom every that belongs!